Monday, March 25, 2013

SAY SOMETHING GOOD ABOUT DETROIT: The-Bird-Life-Legacy-Fidrych

This was certainly one of the best things to happen in Detroit in 1976. But it was almost a one-year career. It was also the year my son discovered baseball and sports. He was six and his love of sports has certainly lasted.

In fact, the first game the four of us attended was this famous one.

From Wikipedia:
June 28, 1976: The Tigers faced the Yankees on Monday Night Baseball, with 47,855 attending at Tiger Stadium and a nationaltelevision audience, "The Bird" talked to the ball and groomed the mound, as the
Tigers won, 5-1 in a game that lasted only 1 hour and 51 minutes. After
the game, the crowd would not leave the park until Fidrych came out of
the dugout to tip his cap.

Can you think of a better game to take your kid to? Even his sister got a kick out of it at age five.

Mark lifted the city at a time (and that seems to be any time since the sixties) that the city needed lifting. The origin of the original phrase "SAY SOMETHING NICE ABOUT DETROIT" came from two shopkeepers in the Tiger Stadium neighborhood in fact. Detroit has had a poor self image as long as I have lived here.

My son started collecting baseball cards that year and has a ton of them including Mark's. Are baseball cards worth anything today?

18 comments:

A great player but as a Tiger announcer for years, he let you know it every day. No team was as good as the 1968 Tigers, no players were as good as theirs. An arrogant guy I came to dislike. Sorry to throw stones.

I was an avid baseball card collector when I was a kid. I loved the Big Red Machine, and the Pirates, then, when the Seattle Mariners became a franchise, started cheering for them. I always had a soft spot for Detroit; still do. I know a lot of good people from Michigan, so I am eager to get back there.

I read a book last year called Cardboard Gods, by Josh Wilker. I enjoyed it. It was a memoir of his life growing up as a baseball fanatic, and each chapter was kind of built around a card from his collection. What was great about it is he is of my age, so the cards he had were the same ones I did. I really liked it.

There has never been a more interesting baseball player since. Eccentric and comical and wholly unique. The first baseball game my Dad ever took me to, sometime in the early 1970s, was at Yankee Staduim: Detroit Tigers against the Yankees. It was a double header ,too. Fidrych's antics on the pitcher's mound was fascinating to me. I'd never have enjoyed baseball if it hadn't been for him.

I know he will. He is the most eclectic reader of any of us. And baseball plus coming of age stories ranks high. Right now he is reading a Laura Lippman book as he prepares to argue in front of the Michigan Supreme Court for the 8th time.

Patti: Harvey Kuenn was my favorite Tiger back in the day. His baseball bat, a Wilson I think, helped me achieve a .391 batting average my second year in Pony League. Best season ever. At one point, went six for six with it. Then cracked it with my seventh in a row on a liner over second base. Broke my heart, too. My best season ever. Yours truly, Toe.

Just got back last night from Florida where I caught the Tigers against the Blue Jays in Dunedin and then watched them beat the Marlins on Monday in Jupiter. When I was a young boy the Tigers were my favourite team and I still think I can name more former Tigers than any other team. Seeing that I played shortstop, I also liked Harvey Kuenn. Norm Cash later was a guy I enjoyed. I just read this morning that pitcher Virgil (Fire) Trucks passed while I was vacationing. I have Cardboard Gods, but The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book by Brendan C. Boyd and Fred C. Harris is a classic. I have plenty of cards in boxes and binders in my basement, but nothing of much value. Last year I helped a friend sell a collection of old cards that included a couple of Ty Cobbs and a Babe Ruth through an auction at the Major League all-star game and they brought some decent bucks.

About Me

Patricia Abbott is the author of more than 125 stories that have appeared online, in print journals and in various anthologies. She is the author of two print novels CONCRETE ANGEL (2015) and SHOT IN DETROIT (2016)(Polis Books). CONCRETE ANGEL was nominated for an Anthony and Macavity Award in 2016. SHOT IN DETROIT was nominated for an Edgar Award and an Anthony Award in 2017. A collection of her stories I BRING SORROW AND OTHER STORIES OF TRANSGRESSION will appear in 2018.